May 04, 2016

Tom Fergus

Tom Fergus came up through the Ontario Hockey League as a junior, playing with the Peterborough Petes. The Chicago born center blessed with size (six-foot-three, 200 pounds) and good two-way skills caught the attention of many scouts.

The Boston Bruins selected the big center as their 2nd choice, 60th overall in 1981. For Tom it was like a dream came true. He had grown up idolizing Bruins superstar Bobby Orr and always dreamed of playing for the Bruins.

As a rookie in 1981-82 Fergus mostly centered the third or fourth line and did it very well. He saw his ice time increase substantially in his sophomore season and responded with 63 points. He then had 61 points and a career high 73 points in 1984-85.

After having finished the season so well Fergus found himself in a feud with Bruins GM Harry Sinden. Fergus demanded a trade but notoriously-cheap Sinden refused to oblige all through training camp. It went so far that Tom refused to dress for Boston's opener in 1985-86.

After a practice Sinden called Tom into his office and told him that he had been traded to Toronto for center Bill Derlago. This was a trade that later proved to be very one sided. Derlago had a busted knee and only played 39 games for Boston until being traded again. Fergus, on the other hand, played 357 games for Toronto and scored 297 points over the next several seasons. He also had 21 points in 23 playoff games for the Leafs as well.

Fergus was disappointed how things had worked out in Boston, a team he grew up dreaming that he would once play for. He quickly forgot about that and settled in very well with Toronto. He immediately tied his career high with 73 points in 1985-86. Fergus quickly became one of the leaders on the Maple Leafs club and had a very solid career there that lasted until late 1991.

At that point Fergus was claimed on waivers by Vancouver. The reason why Tom was put on waivers was because of various injuries which had limited him to only 79 games over three seasons. The Leafs were looking to unload the veteran.

Tom added some fine leadership and good overall qualities to the Canucks. He was especially valuable as a good face-off man. Tom only played parts of two seasons in Vancouver but helped them to a pretty successful run in the 1991-92 playoffs.

After his last NHL season in 1992-93 Fergus extended his career in Europe. He played for the Swiss team EV Zug between 1993 and 1995, scoring 74 points in 54 games.

In his prime Tom Fergus was a very solid second line center who never quite settled down anywhere, although he had a couple of good seasons in both Boston and Toronto.

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